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Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino1 (/ˌtærənˈtiːnoʊ/; born March 27, 1963) is an American filmmaker, author, and actor. His films are characterized by nonlinear storylines; satirical subject matter; an aestheticization of violence; extended scenes of dialogue; ensemble cast consisting of established and lesser-known performers; references to popular culture and a wide variety of other films; soundtracks primarily containing songs and score pieces from the 1960s to the 1980s; and features of neo-noir film. His career began in the late 1980s when he wrote and directed ''My Best Friend's Birthday'', the screenplay of which later formed the basis for ''True Romance''. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with the release of ''Reservoir Dogs'' in 1992, which was funded by money from the sale of his script Natural Born Killers to Oliver Stone. Empiredeemed the Reservoir Dogs the "Greatest Independent Film of All Time". Its popularity was boosted by his second film, Pulp Fiction(1994), a black comedy crime film that was a major success both among critics and audiences. Judged the greatest film from 1983–2008 by Entertainment Weekly,2 many critics and scholars have named it one of the most significant works of modern cinema.3 For his next effort, Tarantino paid homage to the blaxploitation films of the 1970s with Jackie Brown (1997), an adaptation of Elmore Leonard's novel Rum Punch. Kill Bill, a highly stylized "revenge flick" in the cinematic traditions of Kung fu films, Japanese martial arts, Spaghetti Westerns and Italian horror, followed six years later, and was released as two films: Volume 1 in 2003 and Volume 2 in 2004. Tarantino next directed Death Proof in 2007, as part of a double feature with friend Robert Rodriguez, under the collective title Grindhouse. His long-postponed Inglourious Basterds, which tells the fictional alternate history story of two plots to assassinate Nazi Germany's political leadership, was released in 2009 to positive reviews. After that came 2012's critically acclaimed Django Unchained, a Western film set in the pre-Civil War era of the Deep South. It became the highest-grossing film of his career thus far, making over $425 million at the box office. His eighth film, the mystery-Western The Hateful Eight, was released in its roadshowversion December 25, 2015, in 70 mm filmformat, complete with opening "overture" and halfway-point intermission, after the fashion of big-budget films of the 1960s and early 1970s. Tarantino's films have garnered both critical and commercial success. He has received many industry awards, including two Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, two BAFTA Awards and the Palme d'Or, and has been nominated for an Emmy and a Grammy. In 2005, he was included on the annual Time 100list of the most influential people in the world.4Filmmaker and historian Peter Bogdanovich has called him "the single most influential director of his generation".5 In December 2015, Tarantino received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to the film industry.6 History Early Life Tarantino was born on March 27, 1963, in Knoxville, Tennessee, the only child of Connie McHugh and Tony Tarantino. His father is of Italian descent, and his mother has Irish ancestry. Quentin was named for Quint Asper, Burt Reynolds' character in the CBS series Gunsmoke. Tarantino's mother met his father during a trip to Los Angeles, where Tony was a law student and would-be entertainer. She married him soon after, to gain independence from her parents, but their marriage was brief. After the divorce, Connie Tarantino left Los Angeles and moved to Knoxville, where her parents lived. In 1966, Tarantino and his mother moved back to Los Angeles. Tarantino's mother married musician Curtis Zastoupil soon after arriving in Los Angeles, and the family moved to Torrance, a city in Los Angeles County's South Bay area.78 Zastoupil encouraged Tarantino's love of movies, and accompanied him to numerous film screenings. Tarantino's mother allowed him to see movies with adult content, such as Carnal Knowledge(1971) and Deliverance (1972). After his mother divorced Zastoupil in 1973, and received a misdiagnosis of Hodgkin's lymphoma,9Tarantino was sent to live with his grandparents in Tennessee. He remained there less than a year before returning to California. Career Late 1970s to 1988: Education, first jobs, and early projects At 14 years old, Tarantino wrote one of his earliest works, a screenplay called Captain Peachfuzz and the Anchovy Bandit, based on Hal Needham's 1977 film Smokey and the Bandit starring Burt Reynolds. The summer after his 15th birthday, Tarantino was grounded by his mother for shoplifting Elmore Leonard's novel The Switch from Kmart. He was allowed to leave only to attend the Torrance Community Theater, where he participated in such plays as Two Plus Two Makes Sex and Romeo and Juliet.9 At about 15, Tarantino dropped out of Narbonne High School in Harbor City, Los Angeles.1011 He then worked as an usher at a porn theater in Torrance, called the Pussycat Theatre. Later, Tarantino attended acting classes at the James Best Theatre Company, where he met several of his eventual collaborators. While at James Best, Tarantino also met Craig Hamann, with whom he later collaborated to produce My Best Friend's Birthday. Throughout the 1980s, Tarantino worked a number of jobs. He spent time as a recruiter in the aerospace industry, and for five years, he worked at Video Archives, a video store in Manhattan Beach, California.1213 Former Buffy the Vampire Slayer actor Danny Strongdescribed Tarantino as "such a movie buff. He had so much knowledge of films that he would try to get people to watch really cool movies."13 After Tarantino met Lawrence Bender at a Hollywood party, Bender encouraged him to write a screenplay. His first attempted script, which he described as a "straight 70s exploitation action movie" was never published and was abandoned soon after.14 Tarantino co-wrote and directed his first movie, My Best Friend's Birthday, in 1987. The final reel of the film was almost completely destroyed in a lab fire that occurred during editing, but its screenplay later formed the basis for True Romance.15 In 1986, Tarantino got his first Hollywood job, working with Roger Avary as production assistants on Dolph Lundgren's exercise video, Maximum Potential.16 The following year, he played the role of one of a group of Elvis impersonators in "Sophia's Wedding: Part 1", an episode in the fourth season of The Golden Girls, which was broadcast on November 19, 1988.17 1990s: Breakthrough Tarantino received his first paid writing assignment in the early 1990s when Robert Kurtzman hired him to write the script for From Dusk Till Dawn.181920 In January 1992, Tarantino's neo-noir crime thriller Reservoir Dogs—which he wrote, directed and acted in as Mr. Brown—was screened at the Sundance Film Festival. It was an immediate hit, with the film receiving a positive response from critics. The dialogue-driven heist movie set the tone for Tarantino's later films. Tarantino wrote the script for the film in three-and-a-half weeks and Bender forwarded it to director Monte Hellman. Hellman helped Tarantino to secure funding from Richard Gladstein at Live Entertainment (which later became Artisan, now known as Lionsgate). Harvey Keitel read the script and also contributed to the funding, taking a role as co-producer and also playing a major part in the movie.21 Also in 1992, he played an asylum attendant in Jeff Burr's Eddie Presley starring Duane Whitaker in the title role.22 ]] Tarantino's screenplay True Romance was optioned and the film was eventually released in 1993. The second script that Tarantino sold was for the film Natural Born Killers, which was revised by Dave Veloz, Richard Rutowski and director Oliver Stone. Tarantino was given story credit and in an interview stated that he wished the film well, but later disowned the final film.232425 The film engendered enmity, and the publication of a 'tell all' book titled Killer Instinct by Jane Hamsher—who with Don Murphy had an original option on the screenplay and produced the film—led to Tarantino physically assaulting Murphy in the AGO restaurant in West Hollywood, California in October 1997. Murphy subsequently filed a $5M lawsuit against Tarantino, which was eventually settled out of court.26 Tarantino was also an uncredited screenwriter on both Crimson Tide (1995) and The Rock (1996).2728 Following the success of Reservoir Dogs, Tarantino was approached by Hollywood and offered numerous projects, including Speedand Men in Black, but he instead retreated to Amsterdam to work on his script for Pulp Fiction.29 Tarantino wrote, directed, and acted in the black comedy crime film Pulp Fiction in 1994, maintaining the aestheticization of violence for which he is known, as well as his non-linear storylines. Tarantino received an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, which he shared with Roger Avary, who contributed to the story. He also received a nomination in the Best Director category. The film received another five nominations, including for Best Picture. Tarantino also won the Palme d'Or for the film at the Cannes Film Festival. The film has grossed over $200 million and was met with critical acclaim. In 1994, he added three more acting credits, including The Coriolis Effect, a short black-and-white film starring James Wilder, Jennifer Rubin, Dana Ashbrook and Corinne Bohrer, with a voice-only cameo from Tarantino. It won a short film award at the Venice Film Festival.30He had a cameo appearance in Sleep With Me, an American comedy-drama film starring Meg Tilly, Eric Stoltz and Craig Sheffer.31 The film was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival.32 He also played the role of a bartender in Somebody to Love directed by Alexandre Rockwell. It entered the competition at the 51st Venice International Film Festival.33 In 1995, he appeared as Desmond in one episode of All-American Girl. Shortly after, Tarantino appeared in Destiny Turns on the Radio, an American comedy film, with Dylan McDermott, Nancy Travis, James LeGros, and James Belushi.34 He then played the "Pick-up Guy" in Robert Rodriguez's Desperado, an American contemporary western action filmwritten, produced, and directed by Rodriguez, and starring Antonio Banderas, Salma Hayek, Joaquim de Almeida, and Steve Buscemi.35The film was screened out of competition at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival.36 1995 also saw the release of Four Rooms, an anthology film collaboration of directors that also included Robert Rodriguez, Allison Anders, and Alexandre Rockwell. Tarantino directed and acted in the fourth segment of "The Man from Hollywood", a tribute to the Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode "Man From the South". Tarantino later played the role of the Groom in the music video Dance Me to the End of Loveby Leonard Cohen.37 Later in 1995, he hosted a Saturday Night Live episode featuring The Smashing Pumpkins.3839 Tarantino appeared in and wrote the script for Rodriguez's From Dusk till Dawn (1996), which saw average reviews from the critics. It nevertheless quickly reached cult status, spawning a continuing saga of two sequels, for which Tarantino and Rodriguez only served as executive producers, and later a 2014 television series, From Dusk till Dawn: The Series, for which he received a "based on" credit. Also in 1996, he played a supporting role in Spike Lee's Girl 6.40 He was also an executive producer for the film Curdled.4142 Finally that year he starred in Steven Spielberg's Director's Chair, a simulation video game that uses pre-generated film clips.43 Tarantino's third feature film was Jackie Brown(1997), an adaptation of Elmore Leonard's novel Rum Punch. A homage to blaxploitation films, it starred Pam Grier, who starred in many of the films of that genre in the 1970s. It received positive reviews and was called a "comeback" for Grier and costar Robert Forster.44 Leonard considered Jackie Brown to be his favorite of the 26 different screen adaptations of his novels and short stories.45 In December 1999, Tarantino was slated to write and direct a film adaptation of Iron Manfor New Line Cinema. Nothing came about the said project until 2008 when Marvel Studiosreleased a film adaptation of Iron Man.46 2000s: Subsequent success Tarantino had next planned to make Inglourious Basterds, as it was provisionally titled, but postponed this to write and direct Kill Bill, a highly stylized "revenge flick" in the cinematic traditions of Wuxia (Chinese martial arts), Jidaigeki (Japanese period cinema), spaghetti Westerns and Italian horror. It was originally set for a single theatrical release, but its 4-hour plus running time prompted Tarantino to divide it into two movies. Volume 1 was released in late 2003 and Volume 2 was released in 2004. It was based on a character called The Bride and a plot that he and Kill Bill's lead actress Uma Thurman had developed during the making of Pulp Fiction. In 2000, he played the role of Deacon in the Adam Sandler comedy Little Nicky.47 From 2002–2004, Tarantino portrayed villain McKenas Cole in the ABC television series Alias.48 In 2004, Tarantino attended the 2004 Cannes Film Festival, where he served as President of the Jury. Although Kill Bill was not in competition, Vol. 2 had an evening screening, and was also shown on the morning of the final day in its original 3-hour plus version, with Tarantino himself attending the full screening. Tarantino went on to be credited as "Special Guest Director" in Robert Rodriguez's 2005 neo-noir film Sin City, for his work directing the car sequence featuring Clive Owen and Benicio del Toro. In May 2005, Tarantino co-wrote and directed "Grave Danger", the 5th season finale of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. For this episode, Tarantino was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series on the 57th Primetime Emmy Awards.49 Also in 2005 he played himself in The Muppets' Wizard of Oz, as Kermit the Frog's director.50Shortly after, he voiced the character of Master Moloch in the Looney Tunes' based show Duck Dodgers.51 Tarantino's next film project was Grindhouse, which he co-directed with Rodriguez. Released in theaters on April 6, 2007, Tarantino's contribution to the Grindhouse project was titled Death Proof. It began as a take on 1970s slasher films,52 but evolved dramatically as the project unfolded. Ticket sales were low despite mostly positive reviews. The same year, he appeared in the Japanese Western film Sukiyaki Western Django as Piringo and had a vocal cameo as a newsreader in George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead.5354 Among Tarantino's producing credits are the horror film Hostel, which included numerous references to his own Pulp Fiction; the adaptation of Elmore Leonard's Killshot, for which Tarantino was credited as an executive producer, although he was no longer associated with the film after its 2009 release;55 and Hell Ride, written and directed by Larry Bishop and Jonny Lane who both appeared in Kill Bill: Volume 2. Tarantino's film Inglourious Basterds, released in 2009, is the story of a group of Jewish-American guerrilla soldiers in Nazi-occupied France during World War II. Filming began in October 2008.56 The film opened on August 21, 2009 to very positive reviews57 and reached the No. 1 spot at the box office worldwide.58 It went on to become Tarantino's highest-grossing film until it was surpassed by Django Unchained three years later.59 2010s ]] In 2011, production began on Django Unchained, a film about the revenge of a former slave in the U.S. South in 1858. The film stemmed from Tarantino's desire to produce a spaghetti western set in America's Deep South. Tarantino called the proposed style "a southern",60 stating that he wanted "to do movies that deal with America's horrible past with slavery and stuff but do them like spaghetti westerns, not like big issue movies. I want to do them like they're genre films, but they deal with everything that America has never dealt with because it's ashamed of it, and other countries don't really deal with because they don't feel they have the right to".60 The film was released on December 25, 2012. During an interview with Krishnan Guru-Murthy about the film on Channel 4 News, Tarantino reacted angrily when, in light of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, he was questioned about an alleged link between movie violence and real-life violence, and informed Guru-Murthy he was "shutting his butt down".61 Tarantino further infuriated the veteran journalist with his furious rant, saying: "I refuse your question. I'm not your slave and you're not my master. You can't make me dance to your tune. I'm not a monkey."62 In November 2013, Tarantino said he was working on a new film and that it would be another Western. He stated that it would not be a sequel to Django.63 On January 12, 2014, it was revealed that the film would be titled The Hateful Eight. Production of the western would most likely have begun in the summer of 2014, but after the script for the film leaked in January 2014, Tarantino considered dropping the movie and publishing it as a novel instead.6465 He stated that he had given the script to a few trusted colleagues, including Bruce Dern, Tim Roth and Michael Madsen.6667 On April 19, 2014, Tarantino directed a live reading of the leaked script at the United Artists Theater in the Ace Hotel, Los Angeles. The event was organized by the Film Independent at LACMA, as part of the Live Read series.68Tarantino explained that they would read the first draft of the script, and added that he was writing two new drafts with a different ending. The actors who joined Tarantino included Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Amber Tamblyn, James Parks, Walton Goggins, and the first three actors to be given the script before the leakage, Bruce Dern, Tim Roth and Michael Madsen.69 In October 2014, Jennifer Jason Leigh was in talks to play the female lead in the film.70 Leigh, Channing Tatum, and Demián Bichir joined the cast in November.71 Also in 2014, he played himself in the Peter Bogdanovich film She's Funny That Way.72 The Hateful Eight was released on December 25, 2015, as a roadshow presentation in 70mm film format theaters, before being released in digital theaters on December 30, 2015.73Tarantino narrated several scenes in the film. He edited two versions of the film, one for the roadshow version and the other for general release. The roadshow version runs for three hours and two minutes, and includes an overture and intermission, while the general release is six minutes shorter and contains alternate takes of some scenes. Tarantino has stated that the general release cut was created as he felt that some of the footage he shot for 70mm would not play well on smaller screens.74 The film has received mostly positive reviews from critics, with a score of 75% on Rotten Tomatoes.75 On July 11, 2017, it was reported that Tarantino's next project will be a film about the Manson Family murders.76 In February 2018, it was confirmed that the film's title is Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and that Leonardo DiCaprio will play Rick Dalton, former star of a western TV series, while Brad Pitt will play Dalton's longtime stunt double Cliff Booth.77Tarantino has written a screenplay for the film and will direct it. Later in May it was reported that Timothy Olyphant is in negotiations to play one of the leads in the film.78 Margot Robbiehas confirmed she will portray actress Sharon Tate, Rick's next-door neighbor, while Samuel L. Jackson, Tim Roth, Kurt Russell, Michael Madsen and Al Pacino all have been considered for unspecified roles in the film.798081 Tarantino was also reportedly in talks with Burt Reynolds to play George Spahn, a blind rancher who allowed Manson and his followers to live on his ranch.8182 Additionally, Tarantino has asked Ennio Morricone to compose music for the film.83 This will be director's first film to be based on true events.84 Filming took place in the summer of 2018.85 In wake of the Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse allegations, Tarantino severed ties to The Weinstein Company permanently and sought a new distributor after working with Weinstein for his entire career. Sony Pictures will be distributing the film and it will be released on July 26, 2019.8086 As producer In recent years, Tarantino has used his Hollywood power to give smaller and foreign films more attention than they might have received otherwise. These films are usually labeled "Presented by Quentin Tarantino" or "Quentin Tarantino Presents". The first of these productions was in 2001 with the Hong Kong martial arts film Iron Monkey, which made over $14 million in the United States, seven times its budget. In 2004, he brought the Chinese martial arts film Hero to U.S. shores. It ended up having a No. 1 opening at the box office and making $53.5 million. In 2006, another "Quentin Tarantino presents" production, Hostel, opened at No. 1 at the box office with a $20.1 million opening weekend, good for 8th all time in January. He presented 2006's The Protector, and is a producer of the 2007 film Hostel: Part II. In 2008, he produced the Larry Bishop-helmed Hell Ride, a revenge biker film. In addition, in 1995 Tarantino formed Rolling Thunder Pictures with Miramax to release or re-release several independent and foreign features. By 1997, Miramax had shut down the company due to "lack of interest" in the pictures released. The following films were released by Rolling Thunder Pictures: Chungking Express (1994, dir. Wong Kar-wai), Switchblade Sisters (1975, dir. Jack Hill), Sonatine (1993, dir. Takeshi Kitano), Hard Core Logo (1996, dir. Bruce McDonald), The Mighty Peking Man (1977, dir. Ho Meng-Hua), Detroit 9000 (1973, dir. Arthur Marks), The Beyond(1981, dir. Lucio Fulci) and Curdled (1996, dir. Reb Braddock). Potential films Before Inglourious Basterds, Tarantino had considered making The Vega Brothers. The film would have starred Michael Madsen and John Travolta reprising their roles of Vic (Mr. Blonde) from Reservoir Dogs and Vincent from Pulp Fiction. In 2007, because of the age of the actors and the onscreen deaths of both characters, he claimed that the film—which he intended to call Double V Vega—is "kind of unlikely now".87 In 2009, in an interview for Italian television, after being asked about the success of the two Kill Bill films, Tarantino said, "You haven't asked me about the third one", and implied that he would be making a third Kill Bill film with the words, "The Bride will fight again!"88 Later that year, at the Morelia International Film Festival,89 Tarantino announced that he would like to film Kill Bill: Volume 3. He explained that he wanted ten years to pass between The Bride's last conflict, in order to give her and her daughter a period of peace.90 In a 2012 interview for the website We Got This Covered, Tarantino said that a third Kill Bill film would "probably not" happen. He also said that he would not be directing a new James Bond film, saying that he was only interested in directing Casino Royale at one point.91 In a late 2012 interview with the online magazine The Root, Tarantino clarified his remarks and described his next film as being the final entry in a "Django-Inglourious Basterds" trilogy called Killer Crow. The film will depict a group of World War II-era black troops who have "been fucked over by the American military and kind of go apeshit. They basically – the way Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) and the Basterds are having an 'Apache resistance' – the black troops go on an Apache warpath and kill a bunch of white soldiers and white officers on a military base and are just making a warpath to Switzerland."92 A long-running rumor in the industry is that Tarantino is interested in filming a new version of Bret Easton Ellis′s 1985 novel, Less Than Zero. His friend Roger Avary adapted The Rules of Attraction, another novel by Ellis, to film in 2002, and since both he and Tarantino like the works by Ellis, Tarantino has been eyeing the possibility of adapting Less Than Zero. Ellis confirmed in a 2010 interview that Tarantino had been "trying to get Fox to let him remake it".93 In 2012, when asked whether Less Than Zero would be remade, Ellis once again confirmed that Tarantino "has shown interest" in adapting the story.94 At the 2014 Comic-Con, Tarantino revealed he is contemplating a possible science-fiction film.95 In November 2014, Tarantino said he would retire from films after directing his tenth film.96 In November 2017, Tarantino and J. J. Abramspitched an idea for a Star Trek film with Abrams assembling a writers room. If both approve of the script Tarantino will direct and Abrams will produce the film.97 Mark L. Smith was hired to write the screenplay the same month.98 Personal Life Tarantino has said that he plans to retire from filmmaking when he is 60, in order to focus on writing novels and film literature. He is skeptical of the film industry going digital, saying, "If it actually gets to the place where you can't show 35 mm film in theatres anymore and everything is digital projection, I won't even make it to 60."147 He has also stated that he has a plan, although "not etched in stone", to retire after making his tenth movie: "If I get to the 10th, do a good job and don't screw it up, well that sounds like a good way to end the old career."148 On February 18, 2010, it was announced that Tarantino had bought the New Beverly Cinema. Tarantino has allowed the previous owners to continue operating the theater, but he will be making programming suggestions from time to time. He was quoted as saying: "As long as I'm alive, and as long as I'm rich, the New Beverly will be there, showing films shot on 35mm."149 On June 30, 2017, Tarantino got engaged to Israeli singer Daniella Pick, daughter of musician Svika Pick. They had met when Tarantino was in Israel to promote Inglourious Basterds in 2009.150 They married on November 28, 2018 in a Jewish ceremony.151152 In an interview with AXS TV at the time of The Hateful Eight's release, Tarantino was asked if he had religious beliefs and his response was, "I think I was born Catholic, but I was never practiced ... As time has gone on, as I've become a man and made my way further as an adult, I'm not sure how much any of that I believe in. I don't really know if I believe in God, especially not in this Santa Claus character that people seemed to have conjured up."153 Filmography As Director Acting roles References # ^ a''' '''b # ^''' # '''^ # ^''' # '''^ # ^''' Babel on IMDb # '''^ # ^''' # '''^ # ^''' # '''^ # ^''' # '''^ CW Takes Back its Sunday Nights, Sets "Jericho" Reruns, TelevisionWeek, November 20, 2008 # ^''' CW Dumps MRC Sunday Nights, Broadcasting & Cable, November 20, 2008 # '''^ Carter, Bill (November 20, 2008). CW Says It Is Retaking Control of Its Sunday TV Lineup, The New York Times. # ^ Category:Directors Category:Producers Category:Actors Category:American Actors Category:Americans